Incinerator

ABSTRACT

An incinerator for burning refuse, garbage and the like, wherein a furnace chamber is provided with a horizontally extending movable fire grate. The grate constitutes part of a belt or chain conveyor for conveying material which is to be burned. Above the grate is provided one or more air blower units for blowing combustion air against the material to be burned, and each of the air blower units above the grate is movably mounted in that the blower units are mounted pivotally about a transverse axis above the grate below the furnace chamber ceiling.

United States Patent 1191 Henriksen 1 INCINERATOR [76] Inventor: NorolfHenriksen, Rugdeveien 9,

- 3670, Notodden, Norway 221 Filed: Jan. 15, 1973 21 Appl. No.: 323,711

[52] US. Cl. 110/8 R, 110/15, 110/4O R [51] Int. Cl. F23g 5/04 [58]Field of Search 110/8 R, 15, 40 R [56] References Cited UNITED STATESPATENTS 1,811,562 6/1931 Reese 110/15 2,752,869 7/1956 Keenan, Jr 110/40X 2,960,943 11/1960 Andersen 110/15 3,101,683 8/1963 Yonner 110/83,626,411 12/1971 Munk 110/40 X Mar. 18, 1975 Primary Examiner-KennethW. Sprague Attorney, Agent, or Fimz-Wenderoth, Lind & Ponack [57]ABSTRACT An incinerator for burning refuse, garbage and the like,wherein a furnace chamber is provided with a horizontally extendingmovable fire grate. The grate constitutes part of a belt or chainconveyor for conveying material which is to be burned. Above the grateis provided, one or more air blower units for blowing combustion airagainst the material to be burned, and each of the air blower unitsabove the grate is mov'ably mounted in that the blower units are mountedpivotally about a transverse axis above the grate below the furnacechamber ceiling.

3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEU I 81975 3. 871 ,286 snmlnjz lINCINERATOR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates toan incinerator for the burning of solid materials, particularly forburning refuse, garbage and the like, and the invention relates moreparticularly to an incinerator of the type wherein the materials to beburned are conveyed through a furnace chamber on a horizontallyextending travelling grate, preferably on a grate means constitutingpart of a belt'conveyor. I

There are known several incinerators of this type. In most of theseincinerators the grate means is arranged to slope and the feeding of thematerials to be burned takes place, for instance, by means of hoppers orscrew conveyors. Known incinerators of this type are hampered by severaldraw-backs, of which the most important are that the incinerators areexpensive, have large dimensions and are cumbersome and not dependableand/r effective in use. Many contributing factors make it difficult toobtain uniform and complete burning, primarily caused by the constantlyvarying composition of the material such as garbage or refuse to beburned. Thus the ability to burn, the calorific value and the proportionof combustible constituents will all inevitably vary with the time.Further, unless separate dryers are provided, the moisture content willalso vary substantially. These varying conditions result in completeburning taking a considerable time. In order to increase the burningrate and secure sufficient complete burning it is imperative to supplysufficient quantities of combustion air in an effective way. It ispreferable to be able to subject the material to agitation during theburning.

In previous incinerators provided with horizontal or sloping grates ithas been proposed to provide tubular means above the grate for blowingjets of combustion air directly onto or down into the materials placedon the grate to be burned. Such blowing means have been found to makepossible an improved combustion under some circumstances but not whenthe composition of the materials to be burned varies even more thanusual. Also there still remains the problem of how to agitate thematerial on the grate.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 'blowers for blowing jets of combustion airagainst the material. The incinerator in accordance with the inventionis characterized in that the air blowers above the grate are mounted tobe vertically movable during the combustion process and in that thegrate extends at least to the furnace wall at the feeding end of thefurnace chamber, which wall is provided with a charging opening on theoutside of which extends a charging zone for reception of material whichis to be fed into the furnace chamber through the charging opening.

In a further developed, preferred embodiment of an incinerator inaccordance with the invention, the air blowers are in the form of pipessuspended from a transversely extending, pivotally supported hollow beamstructure such that the air blowers can undergo pivotal movements abovethe grate longitudinally thereof. The blowers with the beam can befreely sup ported but they are preferably connected to an external powermeans such that the blowers can be subjected to enforced pivotalmovements.

An incinerator in accordance with the invention includes a fire grateforming part of a belt or chain conveyor which extends out through thecharging opening the part or run of the. conveyor positioned outside ofthe furnace wall constituting in part the charging zone of theincinerator. A closure means for the charging opening consistspreferably of a raisable and lowerable or laterally movable door.

There are preferably several longitudinally spaced air blowers above thegrate each of which extends laterally across the grate whereby the airblowers can be used not only to blow air onto and down into all of thematerial on the grate, but may also be utilized to agitate the material.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Embodiments of incinerators'inaccordance with the invention will now be described with reference tothe accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic longitudinal section of the incinerator inaccordance with the invention,

FIG. 2 shows a schematic cross-sectional view along the line IIII inFIG. 1 and FIGS. 3 and 4 show a longitudinal sectional view and across-sectional view, respectively, similar to the views shown in FIGS.1 and 2, of a further developed, preferred embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION In FIGS. 1 and 2 the reference number2 designates the furnace chamber of the incinerator comprising sidewalls 4 and 6, end walls 8 and 10, and a horizontally extending ceiling12. The floor of the furnace chamber 2 comprises a grate belt conveyor14 carried by two rollers l5 and 17, which, as shown, at the materialfeed end extends outside the wall 8 by way of a run 16 because of whichone roller 17 must be positioned outside the incinerator proper. At thedischarge end of the conveyor 14 is provided a discharge opening chute18 at the end wall 1i).

Through openings 20 in the ceiling 12 extend vertically reciprocable airblowers 22, the purpose of which is partly to supply primary combustionair and partly to subject the materials on the grate to a mechanicaltreatment.

The blowers 22 are as best appears from FIG. 2, suspended from alowerable and raisable suspension means 24, preferably a hydraulicallyoperated means,

' and each comprises a hollow frame having an upper tube 26, twovertically downwardly extending tubes 28, 30, and a, lower horizontallyextending tube 32, provided with downwardly directed blowing jets forsupplying combustion air. The frame 26, 28, 30, 32 is preferably made ofwelded steel piping. The combustion air is introduced into the uppertube 26 by compressed air being introduced at its end 36 from a flexiblepressure hose 38 leading from a header or manifold pipe 40, which, as isshown, is also provided with further air hose fittings 41 extending tothe other blowers shown in FIG. 1. The combustion air (and possiblecombustible gas) is supplied from a fan (not shown) via the main airline 43 and the air flow is controlled by means of a main valve 45, ifdesired in dependence on an automatic control mechanism which isactuated by a temperature gauge positioned in the chimney 44.

The chimney 44 of the incinerator is positioned adjacent the wall 8 atthe feeding end of the furnace chamber. The wall 8 is provided with afeeding opening or doop aperture 46 itself provided with a raisable andlowerable door 48 which in the lowermost position is flush with thegrate surface 47 of the conveyor 14. The grate surface 47 extendsoutside the incinerator and is adapted to serve as a feeding or chargingzone means in a feeding or charging zone for materials to be burned andthis zone is as shown preferably provided with walls 50 whereby isprovided a bin-like space 52 for reception of material which is to befed into the incinerator.

As will be understood an incinerator of this type can be provided with anumber of other conventional implements but as these are not necessaryfor the full understanding of the present invention they are notdescribed or shown. It should, however, be mentioned that theincinerator is preferably provided with secondary air blowing means 55positioned along the ceiling.

An incinerator in accordance with the invention operates in thefollowing manner:

It is assumed that the incinerator is empty and is to be started up forburning garbage. The air blowing means 22 are raised to an upperposition. The bin 52 is filled up to a suitable height as shown, thedoor 48 across the feeding opening 46 is raised up and then the grateconveyor 14 is started, for instance by means of an electrical motor 60positioned in the roller 17, whereby the charge in the bin 52 is movedinto the zone of the incinerator designated by letter B. The burning cannow be initiated with the conveyor 14 stopped. The.

air blowers designated I and II are lowered down onto the garbage andthe air blowing fan is actuated. The garbage is ignited at the inletend, preferably at the top, by means of an oil burner or the like 62, oralternatively by a gas or oil burner associated with the air blowingjets 34. The garbage now progressively burns and collapses andv theblowers are correspondingly lowered either due to their own weight or bymeans of hydraulic cylinders 24. During this stage or phase of theoperation the space 52 is filled anew with a fresh charge of garbage.When the burning of the charge in the zone B is for instance 70%completed, the air blowing means I and II, and the door 48 are raised,the grate conveyor 14 is started anew resulting in a new charge ofgarbage being brought into the incinerator. The grate conveyor 14 isstopped when the new charge has reached zone B, the preceding chargethen being positioned downstream of the same in the zne designated C.All of the air blowers are now lowered into position on top of therespective garbage volumes in the zones B and C and the door 48 islowered down onto the grate whereafter a new charge of garbage can befed into the space 52 simultaneously with the continuance of the burningin the incinerator zones B and C. The burning garbage positioned in thezone C ignites the new charge positioned in zone B. It is this phase ofthe operation which is illusand the grate conveyor 14' is actuated againafter raising of the blowers 22 whereby a third charge is brought intozone B simultaneously with the burned garbage from zone C falling downfrom the grate conveyor via the chute 18, into an ash collector whichpreferably constitutes part of a conveyor or truck, in order to beremoved.

It will beunderstood that the stepwise change of position of the chargesetc. and thus the speed or rate of the burning can be adjusted inaccordance with the characteristics of the material to be burned.

As will be understood the burning in the incinerator shown in thedrawing takes place in two steps or phases while the incineratorcomprises three zones having equal or substantially equal lengths andbeing designated A, B and C. Thus the incinerator operates continuouslybut in three distinct phases. Due to the constantly varying compositionof the material to be burned the burning is inherently likely to takeplace in an uneven manner, but in an incinerator in accordance with theinvention, due to the effective air supply and the other describedfeatures, the burning is sufficiently completed and as mentioned toensure this the air blowers can be moved down into the layer of garbagepositioned on the grate such that the burning is effected throughout thewhole material. Furthermore, the air blowers can if necessary beutilized to agitate the garbage on the grate by movement of the grateforwardly whilst the blowers remained lowered resulting in the garbagebeing agitated. The charging zone or bin 52 is charged from asuperimposed hopper or it can be charged directly from a truck (notshown).

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate a further developed, preferred embodiment of anincinerator in accordance with the invention. The blowers 22 for primaryair are in this embodiment, instead of being hoistable and lowerablethrough openings in the furnace ceiling, supported in suspended positionfrom all together four transverse, hollow beams 70,70, etc. arrangedbelow the furnace ceiling and which are pivotally supported in bearings72 arranged in the opposed furnace walls 4,6. At least on one side thesebeams extend out through the furnace wall and are on the outside at theends 74 connected to a source 73 for primary combustion air, such thatthe beams serve as air ducts for sup ply of air to the respective blowerheads 76, 76, etc. which are mounted at the lower ends of the suspendedpipes 78, 78, etc. In contrary to the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2,the blowers in this embodiment constitute as shown separate pipe means.

In the shown embodiment, the beams extend out through the furnace wallalso on the other side with a closed end part 79 which is connected to apivot arm 80, the outer end of which for instance can be coupled to ahydraulic cylinder 82 such that each of the beams can be forciblypivoted during the operation of the incinerator. Hereby the material tobe burned 85 and which is fed along the grate 14 can be subjected tostirring, mixing and distributing movements. The length of the suspendedair pipes 78 is suitably adjusted such that the blower heads arepositioned at a short distance above the grate in their lowermostposition, such that the blowers as illustrated in FIG. 3 normally willbe pushed somewhat forwardly by the contact with the material to beburned when the grate is moving forwardly. During the operation of theincinerator the two foremost blower units may for instance pivot freelysuch that they normally will rest against the material to be burned bymeans of their own weight while the two rearmost blowers can besubjected to forced pivotal movements in order to carry out thebeforementioned stirring, mixing and if desired, distributing movements.The furnace walls are preferably provided with windows or sight-glassessuch that the operator of the incinerator during the operation cancontrol and adjust the blowers in suitable fashion.

Practical trials with this embodiment of the invention have proved thatthe combustion is so effective that a complete combustion of allcombustibles may take place even if the proportion of not combustible isup to 90% of the material to be burned. If the layer on the moving grateis very thin and positioned below the contact range of the blower heads,the blowers should still undergo pivotal movements back and fore abovethe material layer in order to obtain best possible penetration of thematerial with combustion air with a corresponding high degree ofcomplete combustion.

It will be understood that other embodiments of the invention can alsobe realized within the scope of the invention as defined by theappendant claims. Thus the number and shape of the air blowers can bevaried and the stepwise burning can be arranged to occur in less or moresteps, for instance in only two steps or in four or five steps, inaccordance with the size of the incinerator and the characteristics ofthe material to be burned. It should furthermore be mentioned that themovable grate need not necessarily extend outside the furnace chambersince it could alternatively be discontinued, for instance just insidethe wall 8, since as a continuation of the grate or alternatively at alevel somewhat higher, could be arranged a floor outside of the furnacechamber, which floor could serve as part of the charging zone. Thecharging could in such a case, for instance, be accomplished by means ofa truck provided with a bulldozing blade or the like, such that thecharge could be moved into place on the grate through 6 the chargingopening. Finally it is conceivable to employ a separate belt conveyorfor feeding the furnace chamber so that the grate conveyor neednotextend past the charging opening.

What is claimed is:

1. An incinerator for burning refuse, garbage and the like material,said incinerator comprising:

a furnace having end walls, side walls and a ceiling;

a fire grate conveyor means extending horizontally within said furnacefor moving material to be burned from one end wall of said furnace tothe 'other end wall thereof;

said side walls, end walls, ceiling and tire grate conveyor meansdefining a furnace chamber;

at least one air blower unit means mounted within said furnace chamberfor blowing combustion air against said material to be burned whenpositioned on said fire grate conveyor means, each of said blower unitmeans including perforated blower heads and mounting means extendingacross, said furnace chamber in a direction transverse to the directionof movement of said fire grate conveyor means for providing pivotalmovement of each of said blower unit means about an axis extending insaid transverse direction.

2. An incinerator as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said air blowerunit means comprises a hollow beam extending across said furnace chamberin said transverse direction and forming said axis, and at least onepipe-shaped blower tube fixedly coupled to and com municating with saidhollow beam and extending towardly therefrom, said blower tubes havingconnected at the bottom thereof one of said perforated blower heads.

3. An incinerator as claimed in claim 2, wherein each of said hollowbeams extend through said side walls of said furnace, and furthercomprising combustion air supply means connected to one end of each ofsaid hollow beams, and means for pivoting said hollow beams about saidaxes connected to the opposite ends of each

1. An incinerator for burning refuse, garbage and the like material,said incinerator comprising: a furnace having end walls, side walls anda ceiling; a fire grate conveyor means extending horizontally withinsaid furnace for moving material to be burned from one end wall of saidfurnace to the other end wall thereof; said side walls, end walls,ceiling and fire grate conveyor means defining a furnace chamber; atleast one air blower unit means mounted within said furnace chamber forblowing combustion air against said material to be burned whenpositioned on said fire grate conveyor means, each of said blower unitmeans including perforated blower heads and mounting means extendingacross said furnace chamber in a direction transverse to the directionof movement of said fire grate conveyor means for providing pivotalmovement of each of said blower unit means about an axis extending insaid transverse direction.
 2. An incinerator as claimed in claim 1,wherein each of said air blower unit means comprises a hollow beamextending across said furnace chamber in said transverse direction andforming said axis, and at least one pipe-shaped blower tube fixedlycoupled to and communicating with said hollow beam and extendingtowardly therefrom, said blower tubes having connected at the bottomthereof one of said perforated blower heads.
 3. An incinerator asclaimed in claim 2, wherein each of said hollow beams extend throughsaid side walls of said furnace, and further comprising combustion airsupply means connected to one end of each of said hollow beams, andmeans for pivoting said hollow beams about said axes connected to theopposite ends of each of said hollow beams.